


Nibbles

by linguamortua



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Humor, M/M, Misunderstandings, Multi, OT4, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-14 08:11:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17504882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/linguamortua/pseuds/linguamortua
Summary: Anne and Dan invite Eddie over for drinks. Except it's not just for drinks. Venom, as always, has to make his presence felt.





	Nibbles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Unforgotten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unforgotten/gifts).



Eddie stood on Anne’s front step and took several deep, calming breaths. To his chagrin, not a single one of the breaths worked. His hands were sweaty as he clutched a nine-dollar bottle of wine. Venom was dozing, and although usually Eddie appreciated the break, right now he would have appreciated the company more. He rang the bell and waited. It was a cool, damp evening and his nervous sweating was making him chilly.

‘Eddie!’ Dan opened the door, looking tall and handsome and gainfully employed.

‘Hey,’ said Eddie weakly, and stepped up into the house. It still smelled the same as it always had. Everything was in its place. Eddie’s left hand twitched, expecting to take his keys and phone from his pocket and put them on Anne’s mid century modern hall table. Dan ushered him into the kitchen.

‘Anne’s just getting changed,’ he said, precipitating a flood of mental images. ‘But let’s get started on a beer, hey?’

‘Sure,’ Eddie said. Venom was doing the symbiote equivalent of yawning and stretching, prodded out of sleep by Eddie’s vivid memories of Anne. Dan went to the fridge and grabbed a pair of bottles. 

‘You tried these?’ he asked, lifting his as if in salute. Eddie turned it around to read the label and pretended to think about it.

‘Sam Adams,’ he said pensively. ‘Don’t think so.’

‘They’re great,’ said Dan. ‘Not too hoppy, crisp, touch of citrus. Great with nibbles. Hey, you hungry?’

 _Yes,_ said Venom directly into Eddie’s brain.

‘Yes,’ echoed Eddie without thinking about it. Sometimes he went days only talking to Venom, and forgot how manners worked. Dan raised his eyebrows.

‘Okay, buddy, let’s find you something to eat,’ he said, and brought down Anne’s trio of serving bowls from the cupboard. White with little blue birds. 

‘GQ Man of the Year!’ Anne said to Dan, coming into the kitchen. ‘I’m starving. Hi, Eddie.’ Eddie gave a limp smile as Anne floated across the kitchen and kissed his cheek. Venom made a feeling in Eddie’s chest like purring. As Dan created a little cornucopia of plates and bowls on the kitchen island, Anne fetched herself a wine glass and opened the bottle Eddie had brought with him. Seeing her pick his wine over Dan’s beer was perversely satisfying.

 _Why are you like this?_ Venom asked.

 _I’m not like anything,_ Eddie returned silently. Then, ‘Thanks for inviting me over,’ he said out loud to Dan, just to make the point that he was absolutely and totally cool with Dan, both conceptually as Anne’s new boyfriend and also specifically as a nice man who saved lives. 

‘Great to have you,’ said Dan, with obnoxious maturity and sincerity. ‘No reason why we can’t all get along. Anyway, after the year we’ve all had, you could almost say it’s trauma bonding, haha!’

‘Haha,’ laughed Anne, touching his arm.

‘Ha,’ said Eddie weakly, and shoved a handful of chips into his mouth. Venom liked the salt-crunch of them. 

_Eddie_.

 _What now?_ Eddie asked internally, trying to chew and think at the same time without accidentally opening his mouth.

 _These are nibbles_ , said Venom interrogatively.

Anne and Dan were looking at him expectantly.

‘Sorry, what was that?’ Eddie said, assuming he missed something.

‘Work?’ Dan said. ‘It’s going well?’

‘Oh yeah,’ said Eddie, relieved. ‘I mean, got my job back. That’s nice. And it’s. You know. Fulfilling.’ 

_There were nibbles in the book_ , said Venom.

 _What book?_ Eddie said, without opening his mouth.

 _The one about the noblewoman and the highwayman_ , said Venom, and Eddie stifled a sound of horror as he realised. Generally speaking, when Venom popped out of his skin and curled up next to him on the couch with a stack of Harlequins, Eddie ignored it. But every so often, Venom would read out lines and pose awkward questions about the content. _He nibbled her_ , Venom said persistently. 

Eddie picked up another chip and dropped it directly on the floor. Already he could feel his face getting warm.

‘Is everything okay, Eddie?’ Anne asked. ‘You seem scattered.’

‘Just!’ Eddie said, and then remembered volume control. ‘A long day!’

‘Try one of these,’ Dan said, offering him something that looked like seaweed.

‘What is it?’ Eddie asked.

‘Seaweed!’ said Dan, happily. ‘Tons of antioxidants. Really healthy.’ Eddie cautiously took a piece and chewed. It tasted like seaweed.

 _This isn’t like in the book_ , Venom grumbled. _The nibbling._

‘Not everything is about sex or eating!’ said Eddie. ‘Behave yourself!’

There was a heavy silence all of a sudden. Eddie looked at Dan, and at Anne, and then back at Dan again. 

‘You _did_ say that out loud, yes.’ Anne preempted his question.

‘Shit. Sorry. It’s just, you know. The guy.’ He pointed to his head, realising that made him look a lot crazier than he actually was.

‘Got some interesting hobbies, has he?’ asked Dan mildly.

 _I’m very interesting,_ Venom told the inside of Eddie’s brain.

‘God,’ said Eddie. ‘Yeah. He’s a lot, you know. Keeps me busy.’ Venom threw him a slideshow of fascinating memories of keeping Eddie busy. A lot of tentacles were involved. Eddie knew at this point that he was inescapably blushing.

‘Medically fascinating,’ said Dan.

‘Oh yes,’ Anne agreed. ‘And legally too, you know.’

 _I _am_ fascinating,_ Venom agreed. This time, he used Eddie’s mouth to tell the whole room. 

‘Sorry,’ said Eddie, for at least the fifth time in the past ten minutes. ‘He gets like this.’

Dan and Anne exchanged a meaningful look, and then Anne raised her eyebrows. Dan raised his back, and as a unit they turned to Eddie.

‘Look, Eddie,’ said Dan, matter-of-factly, ‘I don’t think you—either of you—need to have any, um, reservations.’ He gestured to himself and Anne. ‘With us.’

‘What do you mean?’ Eddie said. He tried not to sound wary

‘We like you,’ said Anne. She gently touched his arm. ‘And I really feel like I got to know Venom while we were bonded.’

 _She likes us_ , purred Venom. He writhed under Eddie’s skin, on the verge of coming out to play. 

‘I don’t see any reason why I should come between—all that,’ said Dan. He made an awkward triangling gesture. His meaning became clear to Venom before the penny dropped for Eddie.

 _Eddie_ , said Venom, excited. _Eddie, they want to bond with us._

‘Oh my god,’ said Eddie. ‘Are you asking me what I think you’re asking me?’

‘Well,’ said Dan, ‘why don’t we have another beer, get a little more comfortable in the lounge, and see where the night takes us?’

‘Yes,’ said Eddie. Or maybe it was Venom. Either way, they were all in perfect agreement.


End file.
